PLAUDITS
BACHELOR RECEIVES NATIONAL ACCREDITATION IN VOLUNTEER ADMINISTRATION
Lynda Bachelor, project director for the School of Leadership Studies, was recently awarded the credential "certified in volunteer administration" by the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration.
The credential, which entitles Bachelor to use the initials CVA following her name, is the only one if the field that is recognized internationally. There are currently more than 950 individuals worldwide who have obtained this credential.
The CVA credential is awarded after a rigorous process that includes an extensive self-evaluation and preparation of a performance-based portfolio. A panel of professionals who are certified in volunteer administration judge the portfolio. Bachelor also sat for a two-hour examination testing her knowledge, application and analysis of skills related to volunteer resources management.
Successful CVA candidates must prove to have a clear philosophy of volunteer administration, pledge to work within the professional code of ethics and demonstrate their knowledge-in-use in the core competency areas of organizational management, human resources management, accountability, leadership and advocacy.
UNRUH NAMED WAKONSE FELLOW
John Unruh, professor of animal sciences and industry, was recently recognized for his commitment to excellence in teaching by being selected as a 2010 Wakonse Fellow.
Unruh will attend the 21st annual Wakonse Conference for College Teachers at Camp Miniwanca on Lake Michigan in May. The goal of the conference is to provide inspiration and support for college teaching.
DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING LIBRARY SELECTED FOR HOBROCK AWARD
Alice Trussell, director of the Fiedler Engineering Library and associate professor at K-State Libraries, has received the sixth annual Brice G. Hobrock Distinguished Library Faculty Award.
The award, consisting of a $1,000 gift from The Friends of the K-State Libraries and a listing on a permanent plaque in Hale Library, was presented to Trussell May 19 at the annual meeting of the Friends.
Chosen from a pool of 14 nominees, Trussell was selected for her impact at the local level to students, staff and faculty in the College of Engineering as well as at the international level with her involvement in the International Association of Technological University Libraries, or IATUL. In addition to these accomplishments, Trussell has served as a governing board member for IATUL and as awards committee chair for the American Society for Engineering Education, Engineering Libraries Division since 2007. She has also been involved with creating TRAIL, Technical Report Archive and Image Library, as part of the GWLA Federal Technical Reports Digitization Project Task Force.
"Alice has had a significant impact on academic libraries, both here at home as well as nationally and internationally," said Dean of Libraries Lori A. Goetsch "Additionally, she has a strong service commitment to the College of Engineering and to her K-State Libraries' colleagues."
The Hobrock Award was established in 2004 by the Friends of the K-State Libraries to honor former Dean Brice Hobrock. The award recognizes outstanding librarianship and superior accomplishments among the libraries' faculty. Cindy Logan, assistant professor and digital instruction, support and creative services manager at K-State's Veterinary Medical Library, was chair of this year's award committee.
AACC INTERNATIONAL NAMES K-STATE'S DAVID WETZEL A FELLOW
David Wetzel, professor of grain science and industry at Kansas State University, has been named one of two Fellows of the AACC International this year. This is one of the top international honors in cereal chemistry.
Wetzel is internationally known for the localized chemical analysis of biological material at the cellular and subcellular levels using infrared microscopy. He has pioneered the use of infrared microscopy to study various biological materials. As a result, his research is published in 41 different scientific journals and has been presented at conferences worldwide.
Wetzel has spent the past three decades at K-State teaching and conducting research, including probing grain kernels at the cellular and subcellular level for protein, carbohydrate and lipid content using infrared microscopy. In 1991, K-State's Microbeam Molecular Spectroscopy Laboratory was established by Wetzel and chemistry professor Clifton Meloan.
Wetzel credits the inspiration of several senior scientists, and the perspiration and perseverance of his graduate students as reasons for the Fellow honor.
"One four-letter word we never use in my laboratory is can't," Wetzel said. "I expect a high level of tenacity and curiosity from my students and they're the ones who have done the work that has led to any success that I may achieve."
Wetzel is perhaps the first scientist to use the National Synchrotron Light Source infrared beamline to analyze biological samples. With synchrotron microspectroscopy, he produced high-resolution images revealing the microchemical structure of different botanical parts of single wheat kernel slices. He was invited to contribute the cover article for Science magazine in 1999, and edited a 280-page issue of a French journal devoted entirely to the biological applications of FT-IR microspectroscopy. Fifty-five scientists worldwide were contributors.
He has presented 150 talks on his microspectroscopic research at conferences in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America, including a keynote address this year in Thailand at the International Conference on Near Infrared Spectroscopy, and as an invited speaker at the International Conference on Advanced Vibrational Spectroscopy in Melbourne, Australia.
DODD AND JOERN NEWEST UNIVERSITY DISTINGUISHED PROFESSORS
Two Kansas State University faculty members who specialize in studying the natural world are K-State's newest university distinguished professors, a lifetime title that is the highest honor the university bestows on its faculty.
Both Elizabeth Dodd, professor of English, and Anthony Joern, professor of biology, are accomplished in their respective fields.
"These professors are first-rate scholars in addition to gifted educators," said April Mason, K-State provost and senior vice president. "Both have made significant contributions to their individual disciplines, which enhances K-State's reputation as one of the top universities in the nation."
Dodd, left, is a poet, essayist and literary critic. As a literary scholar, she was an early leader in the field of ecocriticism, serving on the first advisory board for the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment. Much of her scholarly work has appeared in the premier journal of ecocriticism, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, and she has frequently presented at the national forum for creative writing, the Associated Writing Programs National Conference.
Dodd has published two acclaimed collections of poetry, two books of creative nonfiction essays and one book of literary criticism. Her latest, "In The Mind's Eye," won the Best Creative Book Award from the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment in 2009. She regularly publishes in some of the most distinguished literary journals in the U.S., as well as in prominent environmental publications. She has had around 70 poems, 10 critical articles and 16 reviews published to date.
Joern is co-director of K-State's Institute for Grassland Studies. His research expertise is in insect population and community ecology, insect and plant interactions and grassland ecology. He also is a key participant in the Konza Prairie Long Term Ecological Research Program.
His work and research have been supported by the U.S. Department of Education, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute for Global Environmental Change and others. He has published around 90 articles in refereed journals and has presented his work internationally. University distinguished professors are appointed following a universitywide competition held by the provost.